


Friday Night

by hamstercheese7



Category: One Piece
Genre: Awkward Kissing, Dating, F/M, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Friday Nights, Friends to Lovers, Idiots in Love, One Shot, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:02:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26873359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamstercheese7/pseuds/hamstercheese7
Summary: Tashigi was always the one getting kissed, until she decided that she wanted to be the one to make the first move.
Relationships: Slight Coby/Tashigi, Smoker/Tashigi (One Piece)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 23





	Friday Night

Tashigi sighed as she finished her latest romance novel, _Swords and Shields_. It had a happy ending with the protagonist finally kissing their love interest. She plopped the book onto her coffee table and stared up at the ceiling, a melancholy feeling coming over her. 

It was Friday night, she had the night off, and yet, Tashigi was hiding out in her apartment. 

For a very simple reason. Just a few hours before, she had kissed Smoker, and it was all this damn book’s fault. 

Her brown eyes flicked to the book on the table and she covered her face with her hand. It had begun with the realization that she had never initiated any of the kisses she’d ever had, whereas the protagonist of her book was a horrendous flirt, and kissed nearly everyone they met, except for the person they would eventually fall for.

But that had gotten Tashigi thinking. 

Her first kiss was with the boy next door when she was 14. They’d been sitting on her porch, her mother making dinner in the kitchen, the sun setting, and he’d just leaned over and done it. Like all first kisses, it had been terrible. But she had admired his bravery. 

Her next kiss was with one of the other cadets once she joined the Navy. Tashigi had been at the bar, they’d been talking and laughing. He’d reached up and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, gently cupped the back of her neck, and pressed his chapped lips to hers. It would have been better if his breath didn’t reek of cheap beer, and crappy bar peanuts, but Tashigi had envied the almost proud look in his eyes as he pulled back from her. He’d taken that step, made the decision to take the chance.

Then there was Coby, sweet, sweet Coby. A small smile unfurled across her lips as it always did when she thought of him. He’d been the first man to actually ask her on a date. The G-5 and Coby’s squadron had been working together, and they’d become good friends. He was a good man, he worked hard, a real sweetheart. 

He’d knocked on the door to her quarters while they had a day off. His face had been so red at first she was concerned that he was sick and had pressed her hand to his forehead to check for a fever just as he stammered out “T-Tashigi-chan, willyougoonadatewithme?” She had stared at him for a full minute before he tried again and she understood what was happening. 

Their first date had been a walk along the shoreline and dinner. It hadn’t been that different from what they normally did as friends. They’d held hands as he walked her back to her quarters, and he’d given her the most nervous kiss she’d ever experienced at her door. It was only as she said goodnight that she wondered what it must be like to gather up that much courage to do something so difficult. 

Tashigi rubbed her temples, her cheeks heating up in despair and embarrassment.

A month. It had taken her a month to kiss Smoker. She wasn’t quite sure where the notion to do so had popped up. Maybe it had been during one of their late night paperwork sessions, or training sessions, or the countless hours they spent together on base, just existing in the same space.

But one month ago, the two of them had been sitting in the office break room, him on the couch, her on an office chair. The smoke had been trailing upward from his cigars as he glared at the ceiling, mulling over the increase in pirate activity in G-5 territory, taking a short break from placing markers on the map on the table. She had looked up from her pile of paperwork, and their eyes had met. He sighed, and grumbled, “It’s Friday night, you don’t have to be here, Tashigi.” 

That was the start, because she realized she wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere else. So she’d smiled at him and shrugged, “Wouldn’t be any fun knowing you were still here, Sir.” His gaze had lingered on her face for maybe a moment too long, or she thought it had. Maybe that was just her stupid brain being stupid. GOD what had she been thinking?!

But once the seed had been planted, Tashigi couldn’t get it out of her mind. 

She had wanted to kiss him as they stood on the railing of their warship after a successful battle with pirates a week later. He’d reeked of sweat but there was such a satisfied look in his eyes as he watched their men shuffle captured pirates down to the brig. She couldn’t just spring something like that on him, there were too many people watching! He’d caught her staring though and raised an eyebrow at her. She’d just laughed and told him that she was proud of their hard work, though whether he had believed her...

Then there had been two weeks prior, another late night at work. They had been alone in the office, and he had shoved the end of his pen in his mouth next to his cigars as he read through budget reports. It was once again, Friday night. Tashigi had been staring at him, feeling envious of the pen in his mouth. 

But she hadn’t kissed him then because it had been too late, and they had too much work to do. A better sounding excuse than the one that really stopped her. That reason being if she kissed him, it could change everything. He might get mad at her, or worse, calmly say to her that while he was flattered, he wasn’t interested and then be overly gentle towards her for who knew how long. He’d been like that towards Hina-san after they had broken up a few years prior. And yes, a break-up wasn’t the same, but she didn’t want that either. She’d crinkled the paper in her hand, the noise making him look over at her. “Alright, Tashigi?” and she had nodded, but she hadn’t been. Not really. 

The last week had been, well, terrible. Seeing Smoker every day had been torture. All she could think about was him. The way he bellowed orders at their men, so sure and confident. The way the children on the military base would follow him down the street taking blatant advantage of his soft spot for them to badger him with question after question about their latest pirate takedown. The way her skin tingled when they brushed arms while they ate lunch together. 

All of it had made Tashigi miserable, which, in hindsight, Smoker had figured out. Why else would he ask her to spar with him out of the blue this afternoon while they had been deep in Impel Down transfer requests? 

And she had agreed, thinking a spar would help clear her head. 

A bad idea. Every time he got close to her, her mind would freeze up, and he’d get a hit in. She couldn’t think! Couldn’t calm her racing heartbeat, couldn’t take her eyes off the pretty shape of his shoulders, the serious look in his eyes. And thus, predictably, she made blunder after blunder, mistake after mistake. Her blocks weren’t high enough, she misjudged the distance between them as she came in to attack, didn’t dodge in time. Mistakes she hadn’t made in years! It was an absolute embarrassment! 

“What has gotten into you Tashigi?! You’re better than this!” He’d glared down at her from where she lay on the training mat after he had easily knocked her legs out from under her. And that’s when it happened, the frustration coming to a boil. She’d jolted to her feet, grabbed the collar of his jacket and slammed her lips into his. 

It hadn’t been at all like she had been picturing kissing him. In her head, she always looked pretty, or cool, confident, powerful. Maybe the sun had been rising or setting in the background. Maybe they had been alone in the office, or on their lunch break. But instead, she was covered in sweat, bruised, and looked like an utter idiot, a total rookie. 

His lips had been soft though. When she pulled away, Smoker’s eyes were wider than she’d ever seen them. He’d gone slack jawed, completely frozen, just staring at her. 

Then because she knew the opportunity when she saw it, she swept his legs out from under him and ran. 

Tashigi pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes until she saw flashing lights behind her eyelids. She had finally gotten the courage to kiss someone of her choosing, but hadn’t had the courage to stick around for the aftermath. Books made it seem so easy! None of her past partners had ever run away afterwards either! Tashigi rolled over and screamed a little into her couch cushion. She’d never be able to look Smoker in the eye again.

A knock came at her door, and she turned to stare at it, dread suddenly building in her stomach. She wasn’t expecting anyone, had made no plans other than to do paperwork yet again this Friday night. Slowly, Tashigi sat up, eyeing her front door with misery. She didn’t want to answer it, she really didn’t. Couldn’t he have given her a day before she had to face him again? Before he told her that he wasn’t interested, or before he got mad at her? 

But this was Smoker, and he wouldn’t be him if he let things sit. She sighed, getting to her feet as the knock came again. She placed her hand on the handle, taking a deep breath. At least she had showered, and was wearing clean clothing. She had had enough pride (or self hatred?) not to sink into her ratty, holey, comfort sweatpants. 

She closed her eyes, turned the handle, and pulled the door open just enough to peek around it. Something was thrust toward her face. She stared for a moment, her brain tripping over itself. Flowers. A bouquet of brightly colored flowers. She followed the hand holding them out, up the jacketed arm, to slightly hunched shoulders before stopping on his face.

Smoker’s face. He met her gaze before his eyes darted away, pink high on his cheeks before sliding back to hers again. She’d never seen him blush before. Her heart thudded in her chest as she gaped at him, her brain too stunned to do much else.

“Um...” he said after a moment. Tashigi continued staring at him in disbelief, warmth beginning to spread throughout her chest. This wasn’t happening right? She was dreaming? Smoker wasn’t standing outside her door with flowers right? 

He reached up with his other hand, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. Smoker and nervous, not a word Tashigi had ever associated with him before. Smoker...nervous. He was nervous. Nervous... 

And just like that, a sense of peace settled over her. She opened the door the rest of the way and took the flowers gently. “It’s Friday night Smoker-san… maybe we should take the night off for once?” She smiled at him. He smiled back. 

Maybe her decision to kiss him had been a good idea after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Swords and Shields is Varric's novel from Dragon Age.  
> I'm madly working on my Kuzan/Smoker fic, but I couldn't pass up Tashigi's birthday. Anything for my best girl. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts!
> 
> As always, thank you for reading and you can find me on twitter @buggyisbest.


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